Who owns your music collection?

I am getting really annoyed. When I was a youngster, I bought records. When cd players became affordable enough, I bough a cheap second hand one and started buying cd's. When mp3 became a thing, I started converting my cd's into mo3 files. I also bought mp3 files on the internet, and I was happy: no more cd's to buy and never use after ripping.

But today, that is no longer an option. I don't own a cd player. Why would I? I can buy all of my music online, right? Well, as it turns out, that all depends.

I use a Apple computer. I use a apple phone. I like those. I like the way they work. But if I want to listen to music I personally ripped from cd's that I have bought over the years, and put them on the phone, I need iTunes. And I seriously dislike iTunes. So I could load my mp3's into a separate app, and use some kind of app that allows me to download them to my phone, right? Yes, but what if I want to buy new music? If I choose to buy from iTunes, it's got Apple DRM. If I choose to buy from Google, it has their DRM. And so on. My stand alone player app won't play those. What? Yes.

So stream, some say. But I hate that. I want to organise my own music. Streaming apps are great if you're into any mainstream kind of music, but that is not my kind. I simply am unable to purchase music online. If I want to purchase music and listen to it on my phone or my laptop, apparently I need to use a time machine to go back to the nineties and get a cd. What's all this nonsense?

The result? I download music I really want. Without purchasing. Because maybe one day I might change my computer for a non-Apple computer. And I would be unable to play the music I purchased online. Go figure.